177 reasons to Keep Going!

I’m looking for people living with MS that would love to share their story.

My aunt lives in Italy with MS and has for the past 10 years. This past December, my wife and I were married in the little town of Porto San Giorgio, and let me tell you, it was awesome. The best part, was that my aunt was the primary planning for our wedding. She took care of every little detail, which required phone calls, visits, meetings, and constantly talking about her nephew coming from the USA to be married. Even though her MS diagnosis required daily shots, a wheel chair and daily struggles, her positive attitude and excitement over the wedding kept her moving forward and she was better than ever!

Watching her push through all of the challenges has inspired me and I want to do something to make a difference. When I got home, I signed up for our local MS Bike Ride, it’s called Waves to Wine and is a 177 mile bike ride from San Francisco to Sonoma County. To date, I’ve raised almost $2,500 from family and friends!! I’m no bike rider, either — I just started training for this ride this year, in the last few months. The ride is Sept 20-21, 2014. I know that thousands (maybe millions) of people do these rides and walks every year, they raise a lot of money, and then it’s over. This is such a big deal to me that I don’t want it be over so quickly. I want to make it a huge event that will inspire people long after the ride is over. I want to know that the results of this effort will directly impact people and help them by knowing that they are not alone!

What I’m looking for is more stories. I love my aunt very much and she is my primary motivation but I know there are thousands of other stories, people just like her that do extraordinary things in spite of MS trying to hold them back.

I would like to compile these stories into a motivational book, that will be available as a free .pdf download to anyone that needs a dose of motivation, or help overcoming whatever they are struggling with.

I am dedicating every mile of my ride to a different person. With each mile, I’d like to have a story to think about — a person to help me push through all 177 miles of this ride. I’ll create an audio version of the book that I’ll play throughout the ride — each mile listening to the story and then after the ride making the book and audio files available to everyone who needs some encouragement.

If you are interested in being a part of this, or maybe you know someone who might be, please feel free to contact me atmistermatt.net@gmail.com

I am very passionate about this project and hope to make a lot of new friends in the process. On August 1, I will start a Kickstarter campaign to help cover the cost of printing books for those that want a printed version. However, there will be an online version that will always be free.